James Cameron reacts to Matt Damon revealing he ‘turned down’ role in ‘Avatar’

James Cameron reacted to Matt Damon’s revelation that he turned down the lead role offer in 2009 hit film Avatar, sharing that he lost out on $250 million worth of profits deal.

Cameron, who is currently ruling the screens following - the release of the latest installment of Avatar franchise, titled, Avatar: The Way of Water, poked fun at Damon for 'missing’ the opportunity to work on another Bourne film.

“[Matt Damon is] beating himself up over this. And I really think you know, ‘Matt, you’re kind of like one of the biggest movie stars in the world, get over it'", Cameron joked during the Radio One interview.

The Titanic director, 68, added, “But he had to do another Bourne film which was on his runway and there was nothing we could do about that. So he had to regretfully decline.”

Cameron was then asked whether he would consider Damon for a role in a future Avatar sequel, to which he replied, “Must do it. We have to do it so the world is in equilibrium again. But he doesn’t get 10 per cent, [expletive] that.”

Damon, in 2019, had revealed that when Cameron approached him for the role of Jake Sully (played by Sam Worthington) – he also offered him 10 per cent of the film’s profits.

For the unversed, the original Avatar movie earned $2.79bn worldwide, meaning Damon could have made a quarter of a billion dollars. “I’ve left more money on the table than any actor,” Damon has said of the move.